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Trial of Megawati supporter for insulting president opens in Indonesia

Source
Kompas - January 29, 1997

The trial of a supporter of Indonesian opposition leader, Megawati Sukarnoputri, on charges of insulting the country's president, military and parliament opened in Jakarta Wednesday.

Prosecutor Z.W. Were accused Aberson Sihalolo, and Indonesian Democracy Party (PDI) MP of 'deliberately insulting the president in a speech at the party's headquarters last July. He said the 58-year old Sihaloho accused President Suharto of 'seizing our independence and we have become colonised again'.

Sihalolo was also accused of insulting the military and the parliament in his addresses to free-speech sessions at the PDI headquarters during a stand-off with the military, the government and a rival party faction.

'Imagine, all that is being bought with people's money are used to shoot people, this is not right anymore', the prosecutor quoted the MP as having said of the armed forces. The defendant also said parliament 'is not representing the people but represents the conglomerates', the prosecutor alleged.

'The MPR (People's Consultative Assembly) that has been formed so far is not an MPR that materialised for the people, it is materialisation of the rulers so that all the MPR's decisions are not the people's decisions,' he allegedly added.

The charges [under articles 134 and 207 of the Criminal Code] carry a maximum sentence of seven years and six months imprisonment

After the 20 minute court session which was attended by more than a hundred people and secured by scores of riot police, Sihalolo told reporters he had been partially misquoted and that his comments 'were taken out of context'. 'What I was accused of saying was not an insult,' he added.

One of the defendant's lawyers, Luhut Pangaribuan, told reporters after the court session Wednesday that his client 'has not done anything criminal'. 'As a parliamentarian he has the right to talk to the people about subjects having to do with the state of the country,' Pangaribuan said.

Permadi

On January 27, Jakarta daily Kompas reported that Supreme Court Judge Soejono has rejected Permadi's appeal against a four year jail sentence for blasphemy after allegations he called the prophet Muhamad a dictator during a seminar at the University of Gajah Mada in Yogyakarta, Central Java. Permadi was held by police since April 17, 1995 and in September 1995, was sentence to seven months by the Slemen State Court. The sentence was later reduced to four months.

Permadi also claimed that "doctored" tapes of the seminar were leaked by the authorities to make it appear that he intentionally insulted the president. This lead to demonstrations by Islamic students outside his home.

Permadi will not have to serve any more time in jail because he was detained for five months during the trial and now says he is considering suing the government over the extra time he spent in prison. Permadi came to the attention of the attention of the military after he predicted the downfall of Suharto.

Permadi is now intending to seek compensation for the additional time spent in jail. He was reported in Kompas on February 1 as saying: "I am definitely going to demand compensation. I also reject all forms of legal discrimination. All people have the same position under the law. Read the 27 paragraph of the 1945 Constitution".

[Abridged translation from Kompas - James Balowski]

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